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  3. When it comes to saving, the U.S. and China have opposite problems. The two major players in the global economy, the U.S. an

When it comes to saving, the U.S. and China have opposite problems. The two major players in the global economy, the U.S. an

admin2009-04-23  46
问题     When it comes to saving, the U.S. and China have opposite problems.
    The two major players in the global economy, the U.S. and China, are operating at opposite ends of the saving spectrum. Thrifty Chinese have taken saving to excess, while profligate(挥霍无度的) Americans have spent their way into debt. Neither of these trends is sustainable—they lead to destabilizing economic and political developments for both nations—and a better balance must be struck. China needs to convert excess saving into consumption, while the U.S. needs to end its buying binge(无节制) and rediscover the art of saving.
    The numbers leave little doubt as to the extraordinary contrast between the two economies. Last year China saved about half of its gross domestic product, or some $1.1 trillion. At the same time, the U.S. saved only 13% of its national income, or $1.6 trillion. That’s right, the U.S., whose economy is six times the size of China’s can’t manage to save twice as much money.
    And that’s just looking at national averages that include saving by consumers, businesses, and governments. The contrast is even starker at the household level—a personal saving rate in China of about 30% of household income, compared with a U.S. rate that dipped into negative territory last year(-0.4% of after-tax household income).
    These are extreme readings by any standard. The U.S. hasn’t pushed its personal saving rate this far into negative territory since 1933, in the depths of the Depression. And the Chinese rate is higher than it has been at any point in the past 28 years, since its modem reforms began. Similar extremes show up in the consumption shares of the two economies—the mirror image of trends in personal saving rates. U.S. consumption has held at a record 71% of GDP since early 2002, while Chinese consumption appears to have slipped to a record low of about 50% of GDP in 2005.
    In China’s case, relatively weak consumption means its growth dynamic is skewed(使歪斜) heavily toward exports and fixed investment. These two sectors account for more than 75% of Chinese GDP and are growing by more than 25% a year. If China stays with this growth mix, any further increase on the export side would be a recipe for trade frictions and protectionist responses. That’s certainly the direction Washington is heading in these days. Moreover, a continued burst of Chinese investment could lead to excess capacity and deflation at home.
    The U.S. saving shortfall is equally stressful. American consumers have mistaken bubble-like appreciation(增值) of their homes for saving. Facing weak growth in labor incomes—real compensation paid out by the private sector has lagged behind the norm of past business cycles by more than $360 billion—they have turned to debt-financed equity extraction from their homes in order to keep consuming.
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答案quite/very/apparently different
解析 参见第2段第1、2句：The two major players in the global economy，the U.S. and China，are operating at opposite ends of the saving spectrum．Thrifty Chinese have taken saving to excess， while profligate Americans have spent their way into debt．其大意是：在全球经济中扮演主要角色的美中两国在储蓄方面却走在两个不同的极端。节俭的中国人储蓄过多，而挥霍的美国人却举债花钱。
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